Togoland Campaign

The Togoland Campaign occurred from 9 to 26 August 1914 at the start of World War I. British and French colonial forces invaded and conquered the German protectorate of Togoland in West Africa, depriving the Germans of an important radio base and partitioning the colony into French Togo and British Ghana.

Background
In 1914, all of Africa except Ethiopia and Liberia was directly or indirectly ruled by Europeans. The colonial powers were Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, and Germany.

Germany acquired its African colonies in the 1880s. These were German East Africa (now Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda), German South West Africa (now Namibia), and Kamerun and Togoland (parts of modern-day Cameroon and Togo). In the Union of South Africa, the Afrikaners, descended from Dutch and German settlers, were defeated by Britain in the Second Boer War of 1899-1902.

Campaign
Given the scale of the war in Europe, the fate of the combatant powers' overseas colonies was a low priority. It was, however, of major importance for the British. By taking control of the coasts of Germany's African colonies, Britain would deny coaling and radio stations to German warships, thus countering threats posed by the Imperial German Navy to maritime trade.

In August 1914, an invasion of German Togoland from the British Gold Coast (now Ghana) seized a vital radio station at Kamina Funkstation after the few German officers and native soldiers (mostly native policemen and West African mercenaries) withdrew from Lome and launched a fighting retreat. On 26 August 1914, the Germans surrendered the colony, losing their radio access to Togoland, the Atlantic, and South America. In 1916, Togoland was partitioned between French Togo and British Ghana.